Hello, there are lots of agents who post on this forum who are very good. @wrussell @Raul Senise @Alan Collett @Richard Gregan . You can contact any of them. My experience with Go Matilda @Alan Collett was fantastic but again there are many people who go at it themselves as well and are successful. But if you are looking for agents the above mentioned are very reputed and good. If you are looking for someone outside this group, please make sure they are MARA registered

When I applied for Child Visa for my daughter couple of year ago, the MA I took advice from said that applying for a tourist visa is not a bad idea if the visa doesn't come through on time. I did that and the CO who was dealing with my application was aware of the same as well. Luckily the Child Visa was granted and we just withdrew the tourist visa application. So is okay to apply for the same, the only thing is that you need to leave the country just before the 309 is granted, so that you can enter on a permanent visa. Please make sure your CO is aware of the same. Also if for some reason your 309 is granted before your 600 visa, make sure you withdraw the application as they will not cancel it automatically.

I heard from the migration agent who posts here that, RRV's are taking up to 3 months for people who don't meet the 2 years in last 5 years criteria. Your wife and son were lucky to be granted quickly. Even though you applied together, each application is different. You just have to wait.

I have a quick question. My brother-in-law is filling up the Visitor visa 600 application online. He is planning to visit us in December for probably 2-3 weeks max. He lives in Canada. My in-law's will be visiting me as well in November but they will be coming here from India. So we are planning to have a get together here in Australia.
There is a question which say "Are there any non-travelling members of the family who is not an Australian Citizen or Permanent resident". My Brother-in-law and his parents aren't going to travel together but by the time he travels, his parents (My in-laws) will already be in Australia. What should he answer to this question? The logical answer will be Yes because they are not travelling with him but again since they are already in Australia, saying they aren't travelling isn't true as well.
Can someone give some insight about the same please? The question asks him to name the non-travelling members, which would mean he has to name his parents but they will already be in Australia when he travels, so he would not be able to do that.
Any insight will be helpful from the experienced members or the agents on this forum.

Australian immigration is not cheap and it can cost up to AU 10,000 for the overall process and the move itself. If you are with a family, it will cost even more. So you should make sure you have all the necessary information before you proceed with the application.

489 visa is a regional visa and every state will have their own requirements and points needed for a specific occupation. You would need to go to the individual state websites to see their requirement. For 189 or 190 visa the minimum required points are 65 but again people with less than 70 or 75 points haven't been getting invited recently. Applying for 489 and getting accepted gives you 10 points on top of what you already have and 190 visa gives you 5 points.

Don't know about assessment for Cooks but I am sure there will be other helpful members who will chime in with their experience soon. You should be able to get information about the costs and process/experience in the assessing authority website though.

English test for immigration is not required unless you need the points if you belong to one of those countries but skills assessment are different. You might require English Tests for assessment based on the job you are getting assessed on. So I cannot comment on that.

I would suggest you to talk to a registered migration agent regarding this. There are some good ones on this site. I think in cases like this, tourist visa might also be difficult to get. Even if you get one, your children have to go out of the country when the Child Visa is about to be granted to enter on the permanent visa as the visa was applied overseas.

You don't have to write the tests if you don't need the points. If you are from UK, USA, Canada, NZ etc, you don't have to take the tests unless you need the points. Fair enough I would say as even native speakers struggle to get a score of 7 or 8 in all bands in IELTS. I am not a native speaker and I was easily able to get 7 in all bands, not once but twice. You should have no issues.